the music of ambient loop guitarist dave stafford and the pureambient microlabel

what we’re listening to – special edition – the move live at the fillmore 1969

you’ve probably already heard my initial reaction to the release of this record, which to me, as a long-time fan of the move, and as a fan of late 60s pop and rock music, is a huge event…

I knew that the move had played the fillmore on their one and only us tour in 1969, because there were two tracks from the show on the 40th anniversary box set – two amazing tracks, that made me wonder “where is the rest of this concert?”.

well, the answer to that question arrived in the post yesterday, and I am now sitting listening to the album for the second time, I heard the whole thing last night through the “good speakers”, and now, I’m hearing it in headphones…and the excitement, the quality of the music…it’s just purely exuberant !!! an absolutely stunning, remarkable performance.

the story behind this album is one of heartbreak for one of the members of the band, their charismatic and incredibly talented lead singer, carl wayne – carl had always felt that the public really did not know or understand just how good the move were. he believed, however, that the concerts taped at the fillmore west in 1969, in particular, proved beyond doubt his theory – but for various reasons, they sat, in his possession, for many, many years – unreleased, until in the 2000s, he began work on restoring them.

technical problems with the tapes frustrated these attempts, and really in the end, it was a question of having to wait until the technology had developed enough to deal with the problems that the tapes had – so while the tapes were being worked on, sadly, carl passed away, and he never got to hear the final product or see his beloved live tapes released.

however, his widow, sue wayne, and his son, continued the work, and with the co-operation of the rest of the move, the cleanup and production work on the tapes was done, the album was assembled and released last month, in february, 2012 – some 43 years after these historic concerts took place. so I found out, yesterday, “what happened” to the rest of the tracks from the concerts – they are here, to finally vindicate carl and his theory that these tapes “proved” just how good the move were in live performance.

don’t get me wrong, they are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination – the pa system at the fillmore, in 1969, sounds a little underpowered, and sometimes the lead vocals, and all the vocals, are a bit clippy, but given that it’s a 43-year old recording, it’s not bad at all !

you can hear everything, including the absolutely stunning vocal arrangements, the exquisite harmonies which faithfully reproduce the vocal approach used in the studio – which to me is a real rarity – because as a band, they were moving away from their earlier, more pop-oriented persona, to a much heavier, power-trio-with-vocalist approach – but not just lead vocals and a power trio – a power trio that can play hard, loud and fast – but sing like angels when required.

there are several a cappella segments, during “cherry blossom clinic (revisited)” for example, where the music stops, and you hear the move’s voices only – and then, the harmonies, are just exquisite, in tune and wonderful.

sometimes, during the songs, the harmonies do stray a bit, and interestingly, it’s often roy himself that seems to be a little bit out of tune – but I’d say it’s completely understandable – given the fact that it’s a 1969 pa system; the monitors were almost certainly insufficient – and, he’s having to play rhythm guitar, lead guitar, sing some lead vocals and sing harmony vocals the entire time while he tries to play those incredibly diverse and difficult guitar parts.

and since we are on the subject, let’s talk about roy’s guitar playing – right now, they are whipping through the “classical section” of “cherry blossom clinic (revisited)” and it’s just roy on 12-string electric, rick on bass, and bev on drums – but it sounds like a lot more than 3 players, it’s incredibly full – and then, they launch into the madcap “vocal version” of the classical theme, a bizarre and very difficult to execute vocal exercise that just amazes me – they are so faithful to the album arrangement, but – it’s live, and in many, many instances, the guitar playing far exceeds the original…

last night when I was listening to this on speakers, and roy got to the middle section of “fields of people”, and played his “banjar” (half banjo/half sitar) duet with bev – and I listened to the speed and clarity and amazing lead guitar ability of roy – and it struck me, ok, it’s 1969 – the beatles are currently making first, let it be, and then, abbey road – which are of course, brilliant, classic albums – but at that same moment, far, far from home, miles from the familiar, a 23-year old roy wood is standing onstage at the bloody fillmore west, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt, that as a live performance unit – that (and this is just my opinion, please don’t throw things at me now!!!) that they wiped the floor with the big three – the beatles (who had stopped performing in 1966 – because they couldn’t faithfully reproduce their more complex material “live” – which is slightly proved by the japan concerts where the harmonies are a bit lacklustre…) the stones (if you’ve heard them live at hyde park, 1969 – you will understand what I am talking about) – and the kinks – the kinks being the one unknown, I would say that they were probably actually the biggest competition that the move had as live bands go – the beatles were actually out of the picture, and the stones were struggling with the changeover from brian jones to mick taylor – so only the kinks were out there playing their hearts out – which you can hear on record – but joining them now, is the other “great sixties band” – at least, 43 years late, but I think that carl has now got his “proof”, and even ray and dave davies would have to admit, roy wood and the move were a dynamite live act!

and I personally think that this concert really does prove how good the move were, and it’s absolutely amazing that they were so unknown in the us (especially since they were huge in the uk and europe) – it’s just inexplicable, of course, some americans loved the move, and followed their music, but their records never really sold well in america – I think they arrived there too late, and the sixties were almost over anyway – so one us tour – and that’s it.

according to bev bevan, they had tried to go over to america a couple of times, years earlier, but something always stopped them, and it wasn’t until 1969 that they finally did make it over there – and then they played only a handful of shows. and consider this: they had one crew – one man, and the four guys in the group, to drive across america to california – so five guys, in a rented car pulling a large u-haul trailer with all their gear in it – this is the move we are talking about ! but – no limousines, no planes – they drove across america, carl and their roadie sharing the driving duties.

I find that astonishing when you think about rock and roll tours by famous bands now – what the move did was unheard of ! they flew to new york, went to manny’s music, and bought guitars and drums, rented a trailer, and started driving…what an experience for five young guys from birmingham! it sounds like they had a blast, a week’s residency on the sunset strip, then up north to play a few nights at bill graham’s fillmore west – third on the bill behind little richard and joe cocker – can you imagine?

they don’t play like they are third on the bill anywhere, they play with such confidence, obviously, they know these songs inside out, they have done work on the arrangements – some of the songs are actually seriously expanded and improved over the originals – the ten minute plus “I can hear the grass grow” being one case in point, you have to hear it to believe it – it’s so far beyond the original single, it’s basically mutated into a mini-prog-rock-masterpiece – and roy and bev in particular are just extraordinary on it – it’s a monster.

and that brings me now to bev, I always thought bev was a good drummer, but now I believe that I was wrong about that, he’s a fucking brilliant drummer 🙂

his playing on this album, the snap of those brand new slingerland drums – his rolls and tom tom work is so powerful, he literally propels these songs into life. some of the rolls in “fields of people” seemed impossibly fast even on the studio version, but here, they move at light speed – and I would spend a moment talking about this song, “fields of people” – first of all, it clocks in at an astonishing seventeen minutes (because of the banjar/drum duet in the middle mostly) but it’s an incredible arrangement, the vocals are just like the record – not easy to perform, but they do a very credible job of it – meanwhile, roy’s twelve string rings out so beautifully throughout – and then, suddenly, it’s all about rick price – he turns up that bass, and with a beautifully distorted sound, launches into the quick section that begins around the three minute mark. every note is so well rehearsed, and it’s such an unusual and strange song, it features one of the best and most unusual lead vocals I’ve ever heard – carl is improvising, speaking lines, and generally showing us that he can do far, far better than the record – and then there’s rick with that almost chris squire-like bass riff…

and then it starts happening – the whip-quick-lightning-fast snare rolls – starting at about the five and a half minute mark, bev starts whipping his drums into an absolute frenzy, rolling across the toms so fast you think he will miss one – but he doesn’t, he’s precise, he’s fast – and his drumming brings real excitement to all of the pieces.

then – carl takes all the attention – by singing one beautiful, powerful long, extended note – on his own, a spellbinding, pure, amazing, unexpected, perfect note – that leads into an amazing, new, extended section – a bass and drum solo, that is just smoking hot – which is really just a bridge to allow roy enough time to switch from 12 string to the “banjar” (half-banjo, half-sitar) for what may be the most amazing moment of this whole show.

and now…it’s raga time, it’s very much like the album – only, much better. and bev plays an amazing, ethnic sounding accompaniment on the tom toms, with mallets I believe, which does a great job of emulating tabla – it’s amazing! but what is truly astonishing is the powerful, melodic, prowess that roy displays on this strange instrument, he “gets” indian music, he really does, and this raga shows his skill as a multi-instrumentalist in no uncertain terms – he is in command, utterly confident – bev adds a bell tree for a moment – the drums become more and more fierce, as roy winds up towards the end of the song – the audience must have been glued to their seats, transfixed (i would have been) – as if george harrison himself had got out on stage and played the sitar solo in “within you without you” – that is what this is like – but the difference was, the beatles had become a studio only band, deciding not to take their more complex music on the road – but roy and the move did take their complex music on the road, and actually played it better than they had in the studio!

finally, rick joins back in on the bass, as the song comes to it’s dramatic conclusion, last night, hearing this for the first time – I thought, hmmm, I hate to think this, but, let’s be brutally honest – when did john lennon or george harrison (don’t get me wrong, two of my biggest guitar heroes) ever play something as amazing as this? answer: never, and, especially, not live !! shocking, but true.

I’ve never compared any guitarist to lennon or harrison, but I seriously think that in terms of playing ability, compositional ability, arranging ability (don’t forget, the move had no “george martin” – roy had to fill those shoes for the move) that roy, at the height of his powers, let’s say from 1967 through 1970, was unstoppable, and actually, the better guitarist of the three (now I am really gonna get it, but – it had to be said) – I am not being sacrilegious here, I have nothing but respect for lennon and harrison (especially harrison!!!) but you have to hear this – the banjar solo that makes up the last, I don’t know, seven minutes of “fields of people” live…it’s the perfect juxtaposition of indian and pop music, played by four men who were confident, committed, and clearly having the time of their live bashing through this amazing electric raga – astonishing!

when I first saw the set list for this album, I nearly fell out of my chair – reading eagerly through the set list, my eyes immediately fell onto three pieces in particular – one, and most important of all – “fields of people”. I mean – I had just assumed that this song was a studio-only production, it had the sitar solo at the end, very complex vocals – how could they possibly reproduce all that in a live setting? answer: listen to this album.

secondly, “don’t make my baby blue” – another “wow”, they play this live? moment…and not only do they play it, you actually get a second version on disc 2, so you get to hear this amazing, powerful song twice – I have always loved this track especially, it’s a real highlight on the “shazam” album, and again, I never thought they would play it live – but they do, and again, you get two versions – so it’s a double, double miracle if you ask me!!!

third and finally in the “knock me over with a feather” department, is the beautiful ballad “the last thing on my mind” – yes, once again, two versions! – and a really wonderful arrangement, with chiming 12-string electric, and roy faithfully – somehow – mimicking the reverse guitar solo that is a huge feature on the studio version – this track is a massive highlight for carl too, his vocals on it cannot be underestimated, in many ways, his performance alone “makes” the track, it’s heartfelt, melodic, classic carl wayne. he clearly loves this song, and he really makes you believe that he didn’t want to let you down – it was the last thing on his mind. roy plays it so faithfully, I just couldn’t believe they even played it live (i know, I keep saying that and saying it…i can’t believe it, I can’t believe it…) but not only do they play it live, once again, it’s really better than the original (if such a thing could be) – these performances, in really, every case, make significant or even massive (as in the case of the astonishingly re-arranged “fields of people”) improvements – making already great songs absolutely sublime – the roy wood arrangement wizard (pun intended) !

and for me, during this song, which is mostly sung by carl, there is a really beautiful moment, when roy takes over briefly to sing lead on one small section, and carl and rick switch over to harmony/backing vocals – just stunning. roy does sing lead vocals in several places, and his voice, when singing lead, is really very good and I feel he’s quite underrated as a singer.

the 12-string lead guitar solo/reverse guitar emulation solo on this track, in both versions, is an absolute highlight of the entire concert, and the fact that you get two of those solos, from two different nights – shudders with delight. beautiful high speed wah-wah 12 string freestyle raga lead guitar – that’s ok with me J

then, next, there’s an absolutely mind blowing a cappella introduction to “goin’ back” – another cover, like so many of these actually are (there are only three roy wood songs performed at these concerts – just three) a really complex and beautiful a cappella intro and then very sophisticated vocal arrangement throughout the song, which just flows by beautifully – another completely different musical experience…

I know this is already a long post, and I’ve waxed profound about how brilliant the move are before this, all day yesterday in fact! but believe it or not, I am really only hitting the super obvious highlights, there is so much to explore and enjoy in this 2 disc concert – for example, “hello susie” just rocks like a normal rock song, propelled by bev into proto-metal territory – “rock and roll the day away – come on everybody!!!….”

but it sounds fantastic, hugely fun, and again, i’ve never heard or dreamed of a live version of “hello susie” – and it’s really good!

the show starts and ends with a nazz (todd rundgren) song, which shows that the band were obviously big fans of the nazz (as I am) – so they start with a heavy, beautiful version of “open my eyes” – heavier than the way todd used to play it live I’d say – but the real gem is the final number of the night – a cover of the less-well-known nazz song “under the ice” – which, they take and expand and re-arrange to an amazing degree, until todd wouldn’t recognise it, but, it’s genius, and roy plays amazing rock lead guitar, with the wah-wah flying throughout, really beautiful, playing, as if he’d held back all his best chops to use in this song – it may have the single “best” lead solo on the entire record, it’s just classic rock, three piece, rick and bev holding down the rhythm while roy plays and plays and plays some more – it’s an absolute stunner.

then, strange things begin to happen. bev changes up the rhythm, starts soloing a bit himself with some very snappy rolls, meanwhile, roy’s wah-wah guitar style is starting to threaten even jimi himself – or rather, it sounds to me, like roy had been listening to hendrix records the night before, and is having a go at some hendrix like wah work – the footwork is fantastic…then, it mellows out, and roy starts using the wah as more of a filter, almost fripp like – then, he starts playing octaves, with gentle feedback at the end of each, as bev and rick vamp along behind him, suddenly, it’s nearly jazz, but not really, it’s just amazing lead guitar – a beautiful, tricky section of octaves (never easy to play) and roy is revealed to be a remarkably complex guitarist, capable of subtleties that I never expected – this long, long solo really reveals so much about his thought processes – ok, it’s not perfect, it has a couple of tricky notes here and there, but it’s so good that it’s not even fair to really mention those minor imperfections…

and as the solo evolves, through this long, “quiet” section, then suddenly there are some sharp rhythmic punctuations, where all three of the players hit some coordinated “smacks” together – and then, it’s more freestyle, lots of cymbals, back to the super-quick-foot-wah sound that roy seems to be a major pioneer of, i’ve never heard a wah move so fast, but it’s not a one-trick pony, he uses the device in a really, really clever way – utilising every tonal trick a wah pedal is capable of – and now, the track veers into a sort of “quasi-take-five” sound – now the band is stopping and starting – the amount of work on this arrangement is staggering.

roy starts playing a descending riff that seems familiar, but doesn’t quite gel – except, you know it’s “norwegian wood!!!”…then, suddenly, we are in full on “rock” mode again, mad lead solo over insanely fast drumming, we are in the solo of “under the ice” again, after a five minute musical detour that covered so much ground I’m still in shock from it, the interplay of wah guitar of the most creative kind, and an incredibly able and sympathetic rhythm section that is utterly supportive of what roy is playing…

and what roy is playing on this final piece is almost indescribable – you just have to hear it to believe it! suddenly – bev demands your attention with some drum smacks, and we are back, somehow…at the coda of under the ice – which draws the show to a shuddering close.

then – continuing on through the second disc now, you get the “extra” versions of songs from the other night’s performances – just three songs, three the same as in the main set – “don’t make my baby blue”, “cherry blossom clinic (revisited)” and “the last thing on my mind” – and to my mind, ok sure, I’d rather have the whole show – but I am nothing if not grateful for these three extra tracks, and the versions have some very interesting variations from the ones in the main show presented – particularly in carl’s vocals – which seem quite different somehow on the extra tracks – I can’t pinpoint why, but it sounds great – and all three are welcome additions to the pitifully small live legacy of the move.

the album concludes with a ten and a half minute track featuring bev bevan recounting details of the tour, which is certainly historically interesting if nothing else, a glimpse back to a remarkable time for a remarkable group of young players.

the move do, of course, have another live album, an album recorded early in their career at the marquee club in london, and that, along with the occasional very rare bootleg, is pretty much all we have had, except of course for bbc sessions – so one live album, and a set of bbc recordings – and that was it. the early live album was fraught with technical problems, and it was originally truncated and released as an ep (i remember buying it on vinyl – “something else” by the move – with a shiny picture sleeve) but was later recovered and painstakingly remade (and improved and expanded in the process) for the 40th anniversary box set – but still, even though it’s a great album – it wasn’t really the detailed live legacy that the move deserved.

now that we have the addition of this “only” full-length move concert to add to the legacy of “something else” and the bbc sessions, we finally have some justice, a cohesive body of live music that truly demonstrates the musical prowess and confidence that the move had on stage. roy wood, who notoriously suffers from terrible stage fright, sounds as if he is ultra confident throughout the proceedings – you would never know he was terrified from the quality of his playing.

but this body of work – if you were to sit down, and play the full length restored version of what was released as “something else” in the states, followed by the bbc concert, followed by live at the fillmore 1969 – you would really hear the full story, from the earliest days represented by the marquee concert to the glory of the fillmore performances – the entire, true and exceedingly beautiful live legacy of the move, live in concert.

now – if only I had a live version of “curly”…oh well.

…or “this time tomorrow”.

I came to the music of the move a bit late, I started with “curly” and “this time tomorrow” and worked backwards. and then forwards, into the jeff lynne years. but by then, the original bright spark, that was the move in it’s original line up, and in middle period lineups featuring both roy and carl, was gone, the addition of lynne did see a great partnership in wood and lynne, but the music they made was darker, weirder, and in my opinion, not quite as good at the move 1967 – 1969.

but when I heard about this album, quite recently, I knew that carl’s concerns would finally be dealt with, the record that proves how good the move were, now exists, for generations of new fans to explore and enjoy – and to my mind – marvel at – because this kind of music only existed for a very brief moment in time – the late 60s are utterly unique in the history of music – and the move can now hold their heads high and know that they have a part of that, that their powerful, sincere performances of a great set of songs that they knew and loved, are now available for the whole world to enjoy – and it would be my hope, that when people play “abbey road”, which of course is one album that is forever associated with 1969 – they will also play “live at the fillmore 1969” so that the other great pop/rock band, the move, will get credit where credit is due – for doing what the beatles wouldn’t do – going out there and playing their most complex, most difficult, most musically and technically challenging music – and doing it very, very well indeed.

the move have meant a lot to me over the years, they really have, I don’t know why, I think in some ways, they were a bit of an underdog, always falling slightly behind the more visible beatles, kinks and stones – yet, making music so unique, so creative, and if you listen to roy wood for any length of time, music of undeniable genius.

i was fortunate enough to see roy perform with the roy wood band a couple of years ago here in glasgow, and I thought, well, maybe he will play one or two move songs. to my everlasting astonishment, they did about six or seven during the set – it was fantastic! and his guitar playing – wow, it was so effortless, and to actually see him play the riff from “i can hear the grass grow” – that was an absolute joy, his voice was great and his playing even better – and I never dreamed in a million years I would ever see roy wood play live – it just never crossed my mind – but since I moved to britain almost seven years ago now, i’ve been so lucky as to see and witness music I would never have seen had I remained in distant san diego, california…

besides roy wood then, I’ve also managed to see van der graaf generator three times and peter hammill once (although I had seen hammill in los angeles in the early 80s a few times) being here enabled me to see the re-formed van der graaf at the height of their musical power, and for that, I feel eternally grateful that I decided to become british!

I also recently realised, that almost by accident, I have managed to see a huge percentage of the sixties musicians who influenced me so profoundly as a young musician – three of the beatles (all except john), the kinks, roy wood – and I didn’t used to be a big stones fan, so i’ve never seen the stones – although curiously, I have really started to like their music a lot over the past ten years or so – I guess it took me a while 🙂

3 beatles, 2 kinks, and 1 move member – not bad since I wasn’t really trying to see “all of the beatles” or anything like that – I nearly managed it anyway. seeing george harrison was a profound and most amazing experience, especially when he sang and played a john lennon song – in my life – that was really something else!!! to coin a phrase J

for those of you who are not move fans, I apologise for this strange detour from our normal programming – the next instalment of the blog will indeed be one of our regular features…I do not normally ever “review” cds or other releases, but since I have a long, long history with this band, and I always felt that their reputation was sold short because of the way their album catalogue was a bit…mismanaged shall we say…and the lack of a cohesive and complete presentation of their live skill was mostly absent, it was important to me to say “a great wrong has been made right here” and I am especially glad that carl finally got his wish, even though he didn’t live to see it – thankfully, the musical legacy, the power and the glory of the move in live performance mode, is now preserved in digital format for generations to come, for them to enjoy.

bless carl too, for keeping those tapes all those years, for working to get them restored, and for believing in the project enough to at least plant the seeds that later got the project done – or else we would have been left with little indeed to remember this very talented group of guys by. and that would have been a real shame.

I like it when the little guy wins – and carl really wanted the world to have a better opinion of his band than they did – he knew they had been sold short – and he set out to rectify that. I believe this album proves his theory, and rectifies that shortselling in an absolutely complete and devastating fashion.

last night, hearing the whole concert, played loud, I was just enthralled, each new moment of music (music played on a stage, 43 years ago, in california) a huge surprise, the twists and turns of the “new” arrangements, the expanded and altered arrangements, the amazing quality of roy and bev’s playing – even rick on the bass is a revelation at times – and carl, the glue that holds the whole thing together – the focal point, a determined, serious, individualistic singer who had a dream about proving just how good his band was to the whole world.

sometimes, dreams do come true!

🙂

thank you for indulging me here…next time, it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming 🙂

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